Virgin Mobile is introducing two new Android phones to its portfolio and we’re not sure if customers should start getting excited or not. The LG Optimus Slider and the HTC Wildfire S both sit snugly in the mid-range spectrum but also both sit in your standard pricing of a high-end smartphone for any other carrier around.
The LG Optimus Slider is the successor to the Optimus V, so it’s essentially a pro version of the handset. The Optimus Slider comes with a 3.2 HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, Bluetooth 3.0, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The handset itself doesn’t sing high-end but the original has proved to be quite a popular device and we could imagine that Virgin Mobile customers will welcome the handset with open arms and cash in hands.
Virgin Mobile also announced the HTC Wildfire S, which we reviewed not long ago. The budget phone is a well designed piece of hardware that comes with a 3.2 inch display, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 600 MHz processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Android 2.3 with HTC Sense. It may be the cutest phone we’ve ever seen to date but it unfortunately didn’t deliver the value we wanted it to on T-Mobile, even at $80. Considering that this handset will run you $200 with VM, you may want to try before you buy.
We know Virgin Mobile offers some ridiculously cheap calling and data plans but it’s hard to swallow the fact that these handsets were worth $200 in late 2008 or early 2009. Maybe. Virgin Mobile customers get their value through the service and not the phone but if you could possibly consider the Wildfire S, we’d suggest you just save up a little longer and grab the Motorola Triumph, which looks to be the only worthwhile Android phone VM carries.
Even though neither of these handsets would be considered high-end, anyone who picks one up can laugh that a majority of the country likely pays about double the dough for their mobile phone service.